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Cowboy Style
Cowboy Style is the last single released from Kylie Minogue's sixth studio album "Impossible Princess." It was written by Kylie Minogue, Steve Anderson & Dave Seaman and produced by Brothers in Rhythm. The single was released on August 18, 1998. The critical response to the song was positive and some critics praised its composition, Kylie's song writing and highlighted it as a career stand out track. Song Background Kylie wrote "Cowboy Style" prior to being in a relationship with French photographer Stephane Sednaoui (with different lyrical context) but it was completed while she was dating. About the song, she said, "the way you start a new relationship with someone, they can bring out so many emotions within you and makes you question yourself a bit more." The title "Cowboy Style" comes from when Kylie first met Stephane Sednaoui in person, where she recalled him looking "unusual" and felt like he was "the new cowboy coming into town". Following the weak commercial performance of her previous single "Breathe", Kylie left Deconstruction Records. While performing on her Intimate and Live concert tour in Australia, she confirmed that she would release "Cowboy Style" as the fourth single in Australia and New Zealand by Mushroom Records. The single's artwork was shot during the Intimate and Live tour by Simon Emmert, which featured Kylie with a leather bra and a cowboy hat on. Idolator listed the artwork as one of "Kylie's Best Single Covers," saying, "Leather bra and a cowboy hat. Enough said." An unedited shot of the cover was featured in her Kylie photo album book (which was released in August of 1999). Song Composition "Cowboy Style" was recorded at Real World Studios, Sarm West and DMC Studios in London, England and was mixed by Alan Bremner at Real World. It is is a Celtic pop song that lasts a duration of four minutes and forty-four seconds. Instrumentally, Greg Bones and Anderson played the guitar, Johnnie Hardie played the fiddle & all other instrumentals played by Anderson. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine commented that "Cowboy Style features a tribal percussion break and a string quartet that sounds more Celtic than country." Online music critic Adrian Denning compared the song to the work of Icelandic recording artist and songwriter Björk. Nick Levine from Digital Spy said, "Oh, and in 'Cowboy Style', it has a track that manages to sound a little bit Celtic and a little bit Middle Eastern. Pete Waterman must have wept." Chart Performance "Cowboy Style" entered at #39 on October 18, 1998 (which was the lowest single that week). It was also the lowest charting single from the "Impossible Princess" album. The song was Kylie's lowest charting single overall until her Towa Tei collaboration "GBI (German Bold Italic)" (which was released two months after) at #50 on the chart. It was also Kylie's lowest charting solo single in Australia until it was surpassed by her digital single "Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)" (from her "Aphrodite" album) at #50 and her physical single "Into the Blue" (from her "Kiss Me Once" album) which peaked at #46, making it her worst performing lead single there. Critical Reception "Cowboy Style" received favorable reviews from music critics. Chris True from Allmusic highlighted the song as an album stand out. Michael R. Smith from The Daily Vault compared the song in retrospect to American singer Madonna's song "Don't Tell Me", writing: ""Cowboy Style" is everything a country-tinged song like Madonna’s "Don’t Tell Me" should have been. It’s the one track that left me wanting more of the same - extended remixes, at the very least.” A reviewer from Who Magazine was positive towards the track, stating, "An almost Eastern feel under a free-flowing melody. Classic poppy Kyles." C. Adams from Herald Sun commended the track by saying, "Cowboy Style manages to border from country music and remain cool." Gary James from Entertainment Focus praised all of Kylie's written tracks and selected the tracks "Say Hey", "Too Far", "Cowboy Style" and "Limbo" for her being able to portray an "sense of claustrophobia and uncertainty." John Mangan from The Age was positive in his review, saying the song is a "funky hoe-down sound". A reviewer from the publication The Backlot listed the song at #11 on their "Kylie Minogue's Best Songs In Honor of Her Birthday" list and said: "This stylistic mishmash (featuring a deep Celtic sound that, maybe, Alison Krauss could fiddle along with) is a hard-driving, adrenalized, sexualized quest for freedom. How do you deal with the fact that Kylie sings, "I am frightened, I’m aroused, I’m enlightened to the now' and totally sells it?" Online critic Adrian Denning from his website Adriandenning.co.uk said, "Too Far flows well into the impressive, eastern flavored Cowboy Style. Either one of these two songs would have made better singles than the ones eventually chosen, by the way.” Sputnikmusic highlighted the track as an album stand out, commenting that "Cowboy Style a funky western jam that might possibly get country fans to do a line dance, this is the mother to Madonna’s "Don’t Tell Me". Kylie’s creativity to mix her style with a genre that can be a put off to the masses is a surprise and one of the albums highlights." Music Video The music video for "Cowboy Style" was directed by Michael Williams and taped at a sound check at one of the Intimate and Live shows in June of 1998. The music video was dubbed with the song's radio edit version and it was featured on the CD single. Category:Songs Category:Singles